Drive
Year: 2011
Rating: R
Runtime: 1 HR, 45 MIN
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Ryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Christina Hendricks, and Ron Perlman
Like most guys I’m a big fan of action films and as long as the action film delivers on what it advertises there’s a good chance of me enjoying the film. By delivering on what it advertises I mean that if the film in question is rated R than I want some bad language, some nudity, and an appropriate amount of violence. Drive pulls into theaters with enough of all three to make it one of the best action films of the year.
Ryan Gosling stars as the aptly named Driver, he’s a man of few words that is completely serious about what he does. He’s a wheelman, he doesn’t go in on the robberies, he doesn’t carry a gun, he just drives… that’s it. When he’s not moonlighting as a wheelman he’s a part time mechanic and stunt driver in Hollywood. The Driver’s boss/manager is a slight cripple and part time loser named Shannon played by Bryan Cranston. Shannon is of course a man with big dreams and thinks the Driver is his meal ticket to success. Unfortunately for Shannon he’s a little low on cash so he turns to his unsavory business associates Bernie and Nino, who are of course connected to the mob. Shannon’s master plan is to borrow enough mob money to buy a stock car for the Driver to… wait for it… drive. This plan is moving along fine until the Driver makes the mistake of giving a young women that lives in his building a ride home from the market. The Driver quickly falls for the girl, Irene, played by Carey Mulligan and begins to care deeply for her young son. Everything begins to go pear shaped when Irene’s husband is released from prison and is ordered to repay a debt he owes from prison to do a job. Not everything is what it seems to be and it doesn’t take long for the Driver to find out he’s going to have a lot more than drive to get himself out this alive.
Drive is a glorified art house film masquerading as a straight up action film. It’s heavily stylized but not in a Michael Bay’ish way. Comparisons are going to be immediately drawn to the Jason Statham Transporter series but aside from both films centering around a no-nonsense Wheelman the similarities end there. Where the Transporter films are essentially a series of car chases mixed with martial arts fights that are loosely tied together to make something that resembles a plot, Drive is an intelligent drama with realistic and jarring action sequences. Those expecting mindless balls to wall action are going to be disappointed while action fans that can appreciate a smart, subtlety emotional action film will be thrilled. Nicolas Winding Refn who directed 2008′s amazing Bronson brings his distinctive style to Drive. If I had to choose one word to describe his directing style for Drive it would be “deliberate” almost in a Michael Mann type way. As I said earlier, if you’re expecting some outrageously fast paced film you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Much of the film takes it’s time, luring the audience in, then with little warning shit gets real. As things kick off the violence is both jarringly and realistically effective. From the moment the film began the initial vibe I had gotten from the trailer of this being a throwback to the action films of the 70′s and 80′s was confirmed. I can’t put my finger on just one thing that gives it that feel but there’s a little “Man With No Name” mixed in with “To Live and Die in LA”, the opening credits are a throwback to Risky Business, and the soundtrack is heavily influenced by 80s music. It’s an interesting mix that works on every level for me.
Ryan Gosling is not one of my favorite actors. It’s not that I dislike him, he’s just never done anything that has sold me on being a huge fan of his but after seeing Drive he might have won me over. His performance is subdued but he says a lot with just body language. Gosling isn’t your typical badass but in this I completely bought in to him being a no-nonsense badass with a “heart of gold.” He’s capable of being an incredibly quiet, reflective individual that’s capable of calculated, monstrous acts of violence against those that have threatened him or people he cares about. Carey Mulligan (Wall Street Money Never Sleeps) is a bit of mystery to me. Her character isn’t given much to do aside from being cute in a mousy sort of way. She’s certainly not bad but I can’t rave about the performance either. Ron Perlman plays an angry Jewish gangster. Perlman is usually one of my favorite character actors but I feel as though he was a bit miscast here. It’s not unusual for Perlman to play unlikable, eccentric characters but I had a hard time believing that some wise guy wouldn’t have put a bullet in his skull years ago. Aside from Gosling’s performance the two major standouts in my mind were Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. Like Perlman, I’ve enjoyed Cranston’s work for a long time and he’s endeared himself too me in a lot of different roles through the years. Here he’s a lovable loser that you want to like but you know early on he’s in over his head but he plays the role beautifully right down to his “Mad Max” limp. That brings us to Albert Brooks who I hardly even recognized until I saw his name in the trailer’s credits. After a bit of research I noticed it had been eight years since I had seen his name attached to a film that wasn’t a mockumentary or animated film and thirteen years since I had actually seen a film in the theater with him in it, 1998′s Out of Sight. To put it simply Albert Brooks is simply amazing; he’s both terrifying and funny in a completely black comedy sort of way. He was an unexpected pleasure to watch and it’s too bad I haven’t seen him do more film work recently because I was in awe of his performance. Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks’ make a brief appearance in the film but it’s a one dimensional role that doesn’t even showcase her great rack so… epic fail.
I feel I’d be remiss not to mention the soundtrack to Drive
The only area that I feel Drive stumbles is in regard to it’s plot. I’m not saying the plot is bad because it’s not, I think it’s cumbersome. I don’t want to say too much because there’s nothing worse than someone divulging crucial plot points to people that haven’t see the film but the plot gets bogged down in the middle by a few too many coincidences that stretch the limits of believability to me. It’s not a deal breaker for me by any means I just think that with a little pruning the film could have transitioned better from the second act to the third.
I really enjoyed Drive, it’s not your typical action film and it’s not cast with the typical action stars. Do I think Drive will appeal to everyone? No I don’t, it will however appeal to film goers that appreciate where Drive got it’s roots. Drive has a very decent cast, a great director, a compelling story, and it delivers on exactly what it advertises so I highly recommend Drive to anyone that appreciates a really well made action film.
